Basic and Higher-Order Cognitive Functions, Personality, and Relationships in Adulthood

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards defining key theoretical models, cognitive processes, personality frameworks, and relationship dynamics across adult development and aging.

Cognition

The way the mind works, including attention, memory, intelligence, problem-solving, and language.

Processing speed

The time it takes to process sensory information, make decisions, and prepare a response.

Reaction time

A measure of how quickly a person responds to a stimulus.

Target

The specific stimulus a person must respond to.

Distractors

Stimuli that do not match the target.

Simple reaction time

A task requiring a response to only one target (e.g., pressing a key when a red circle appears).

Choice reaction time

A task requiring different responses to different stimuli (e.g., pressing F for red and J for blue).

General slowing hypothesis

The proposal that reaction time increases with age because information processing speed declines across the nervous system.

Age complexity hypothesis

The view that age differences become greater as tasks become more complex because complex tasks require more processing resources.

Brinley plot

A graphical representation that compares the reaction times of younger and older adults across tasks of varying difficulty.

Attention

Focusing on certain information while ignoring other information, as well as shifting focus and combining information from different sources.

Simple visual search

Finding a target that differs from distractors by one single feature, utilizing parallel processing so the target pops out.

Conjunction visual search

Finding a target that differs by multiple features, requiring serial processing by examining items one at a time.

Inhibitory control

The ability to ignore distractions in order to focus on the required task.

Stroop test

A test measuring the ability to resist interference by naming the ink color of a word while ignoring its printed semantic meaning.

Sustained attention

Maintaining focus over an extended period of time and responding to specific targets.

Neuroplasticity

The brain’s ability to adapt, reorganize, and change, allowing cognitive improvement with practice.

Attentional resources theory

A theory proposing that older adults have fewer mental resources available for cognitive tasks, making attention more difficult.

Inhibitory deficit hypothesis

The hypothesis that aging reduces the ability to tune out irrelevant information and distractions.

Accumulated knowledge theory

The theory (Ramscar et al., 2014) proposing that older adults have more knowledge and experience to consider, making them slower on laboratory tasks.

Useful field of view (UFOV)

The visual area from which a person can extract information without moving their eyes or turning their head; critical for driving safety.

Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ)

A standardized instrument measuring self-reported driving behaviors, errors, and violations.

SIMARD MD

A modified DemTect screening tool used to identify cognitively impaired, medically at-risk older drivers.

Working memory

A cognitive system that temporarily holds and manipulates information in an active, conscious state for learning and recall.

N-back task

A working memory test requiring an individual to determine whether the current item matches one presented N steps earlier.

Default network

A brain network active during restful states, internal reflection, remembering, and self-referential thought.

Episodic memory

Long-term memory for specific personal events and past experiences.

Scaffolding theory

The theory proposing that older adults recruit alternative or additional neural circuits to compensate for age-related structural declines.

Remote memory

The recall of information and events from the distant past.

Autobiographical memory

Memory for information and personal life events that form an individual's personal history.

Flashbulb memory

Vivid, detailed long-term memory for distinctive, highly emotionally significant public or personal events.

Semantic memory

Long-term memory for word meanings, facts, general concepts, and world knowledge.

Procedural memory

Memory for how to perform motor actions and physical skills (e.g., riding a bike or playing an instrument).

Implicit memory

Memory for information acquired and retrieved unintentionally without conscious awareness.

Source memory

Remembering the specific origin, context, or way in which information was learned.

Prospective memory

Remembering to perform planned actions or intentions at a future time.

Tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon

A temporary retrieval failure where a known piece of information, such as a name, cannot be recalled despite knowing it is in memory.

Memory self-efficacy

An individual's confidence in their own ability to successfully complete memory tasks.

Stereotype threat

Impaired task performance caused by awareness of and anxiety about confirming negative stereotypes regarding one's group.

Memory controllability

An individual's beliefs regarding the extent to which memory decline can be prevented or controlled through effort.

Method of loci

A mnemonic technique that associates items to be remembered with specific physical locations along a familiar mental path.

Executive functioning

Higher-level cognitive processes that plan, coordinate, initiate, monitor, and regulate mental operations and goal-directed behavior.

Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS)

The most widely used clinical test of adult intelligence, assessing verbal comprehension, perceptual reasoning, working memory, and processing speed.

Trail-Making Test (Trails)

A neuropsychological test assessing frontal lobe function, visual scanning, attention, cognitive flexibility, and sequencing.

Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST)

A neuropsychological measure assessing abstract reasoning, mental flexibility, and the ability to shift sorting rules based on feedback.

Exergaming

Interactive video gaming that requires physical exertion to play, combining aerobic exercise with cognitive tasks.

Perseveration

The persistent repetition of a particular response or rule despite the absence or cessation of the original stimulus.

Elderspeak

A patronizing speech pattern directed toward older adults characterized by simplified grammar, slow pacing, high pitch, and childish terms.

Communication Predicament Model

A framework showing that negative age stereotypes lead younger people to patronize older adults, reinforcing dependence and accelerating cognitive decline.

Infantilization

Treating older adults as though they are young children, diminishing their personal autonomy, independence, and dignity.

Everyday problem solving

The capacity to resolve real-world dilemmas and challenges that typically feature open-ended, ill-defined parameters with multiple potential solutions.

Postformal operations

A proposed adult stage of cognitive development beyond formal operations that recognizes ambiguity, nuance, contradiction, and practical constraints.

Dialectical thinking

A style of mature reasoning that involves acknowledging, weighing, and integrating opposing viewpoints and conflicting arguments.

Classic Aging Pattern

An inverted U-shaped developmental trajectory on standardized tests where intellectual abilities peak in early adulthood and decline thereafter.

Fluid reasoning (Gf)

The ability to think logically, solve novel problems, and identify patterns without relying on acquired cultural knowledge.

Crystallized intelligence (Gc)

The accumulation of knowledge, vocabulary, facts, and verbal skills acquired through education, culture, and life experience.

Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) model of intelligence

A hierarchical theory structuring intelligence into three tiers: general intelligence ($g$), broad cognitive domains, and specific narrow abilities.

Reserve capacity

The untapped mental potential or resources that an individual possesses but has not yet fully realized or deployed.

Mechanics of intelligence

The basic physiological, hardware-based operations of the brain, including processing speed, working memory, and fluid abilities.

Pragmatics of intelligence

The culture- and experience-based software of the mind, involving the application of accumulated knowledge to everyday dilemmas.

Berlin Wisdom Paradigm

A framework developed by Baltes that defines wisdom as expert knowledge system in the fundamental pragmatics of life.

Ego psychology

A psychoanalytic branch emphasizing that the rational ego actively adapts, directs behavior, and develops throughout the entire lifespan.

Identity assimilation

Interpreting new life experiences in ways that fit existing self-conceptions without altering one's core identity.

Identity accommodation

Changing one's self-image and beliefs in response to life experiences, feedback, or age-related changes.

Identity balance

The adaptive process of integrating new experiences into the self-concept while preserving a stable sense of core identity.

Generativity

Erikson’s seventh psychosocial stage, characterized by caring for, mentoring, and contributing to the development of the next generation.

Five-Factor Model (FFM)

A comprehensive trait theory defining adult personality along five broad dispositions: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.

Maturity principle

The empirical finding that people generally develop higher levels of conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability as they age.

Correspondence principle

The proposition that personal traits influence the life choices individuals make, which subsequently reinforce those initial personality traits.

Type A behaviour pattern

A behavioral profile marked by intense competitiveness, time urgency, impatience, hostility, and high drive for achievement.

Type D personality

A distressed personality profile characterized by high negative affectivity combined with social inhibition and emotional suppression.

Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST)

Carstensen's theory stating that as future time horizons shrink, individuals prioritize emotionally meaningful ties over informational goals.

Positivity effect

The age-related tendency for older adults to attend to and remember positive stimuli more readily than negative stimuli.

Possible selves theory

A cognitive model proposing that internalized conceptions of who one hopes to become and fears becoming regulate future motivation.

Problem-focused coping

Direct action aimed at modifying, removing, or resolving the underlying stressor or external conditions causing distress.

Emotion-focused coping

Strategies directed toward regulating or altering one's internal emotional response to uncontrollable stressors.

Resilience

The capacity to recover functioning, adapt successfully, and bounce back following adversity, trauma, or intense stress.

Life structure

Levinson's concept describing the overarching pattern of an individual's life at a given point, shaped by relationships, career, and roles.

Living Apart Together (LAT)

A committed, intimate partnership where both individuals maintain distinct, separate personal residences.

Cohabitation effect

The observed statistical increase in marital dissolution and conflict among couples who cohabit prior to formal engagement.

Divorce proneness

A psychological propensity to actively contemplate divorce and question marital viability during times of relationship strain.

Widowhood effect

The elevated mortality rate observed among surviving spouses following the death of their marital partner.

Enduring dynamics pathway

A relationship trajectory in which the interactional patterns established at the outset of marriage remain stable across decades.

Emergent distress pathway

A marital course where partners begin with high satisfaction but develop corrosive conflicts, defensiveness, and distress over time.

Disillusionment pathway

A marital trajectory where couples begin with idealized romance but experience a gradual fading of positive feelings and growing emotional distance.

Doing gender

The sociological process of enacting traditional gender roles, often becoming pronounced following the birth of a child.

Blended families

Households consisting of an adult couple living with at least one non-biological child from a prior union; also called reconstituted families.

Empty nest syndrome (ENS)

Emotional distress, loneliness, and role loss experienced by parents when their last child departs from the familial residence.

Boomerang children

Adult offspring who move back home to reside with their parents after a period of independent living.

Filial maturity

The developmental milestone achieved when adult children come to view and relate to their aging parents as peers and equals.

Filial anxiety

Worry and apprehension experienced by adult children regarding their prospective responsibility to care for an aging parent.

Filial obligation

Cultural values and ethical expectations prescribing that grown children must provide support and care for their aging parents.

Intergenerational solidarity model (ISM)

A sociological framework measuring parent-child cohesion along six dimensions: associational, affectional, consensual, functional, normative, and structural.

Intergenerational stake hypothesis

The proposition that parents report higher emotional attachment and solidarity toward their offspring than children report toward their parents.

Developmental schism

A generational divide in expectations, where parents and adult children place differing values on closeness versus independence.

Role reversal

An arrangement occurring when an adult child assumes full primary caregiving responsibilities for a parent who can no longer function independently.

Contingency theory

The concept that parental financial and instrumental assistance is triggered primarily by their adult children’s pressing needs.

Sandwich generation

Middle-aged adults caught between the dual demands of raising their dependent children and assisting their elderly parents.

Skip-generation family

A household arrangement where grandparents raise their grandchildren without the presence of the biological parents.

Dyadic withdrawal

The social process whereby newly coupled individuals diminish their independent social ties to cultivate joint friendships.